Josh Worrell is hitting new heights – and speeds – for Adelaide in 2025.

Against Carlton he had his best individual performance of his 38-game career to date.

In his incredible chasedown to stop the Blues’ Jesse Motlop from scoring a goal he reached a top speed of 33.1km/hr.

“I got told by the physio that I hit 102 per cent so I hit my new record, so the fastest I have ever run at the club,” Worrell laughs.

“I’m glad my hammy’s held up and I didn’t do one.”

It continues a campaign for Worrell so far that very well could have the 24-year-old hybrid defender leading the Crows’ Club Champion Award at this stage of the season – Matthew Nicks said he would be “right up there” following the win over the Blues.

It should also have him being discussed by the all-Australian selectors.

Worrell is the No. 1 general defender interceptor in the league so far this season, his 251 career intercept possessions are the ninth most after 38 matches since 1999 while his 61 this year is the eighth most for a Crow after Round 8 ever.

When it comes to defensive one-on-one contests he is winning 44 per cent, ranked ninth in the competition this year and losing just 19 per cent – ranked 16th.

But while it might seem that Worrell has burst onto the scene quicker than he was running to deny Motlop, it’s a rise that has taken time, consisted of plenty of lessons learnt both on and off the field and required some tough love and hard truths from some senior teammates.

‘I WAS A LONG WAY OFF IT’

Selected with the 28th pick of the 2019 draft as a forward Worrell arrived at West Lakes as a raw 195cm prospect who could play at either end of the ground.

He debuted in Round 13 in 2021 against St Kilda in Cairns, finishing with just the three disposals and two tackles in a thrilling win.

Worrell has come a long way since.

“I was a long way off it in Cairns,” Worrell said.

“Obviously a really good experience for me learning how far away I was and what I needed to do to get to AFL level.

“And then going back to work, I think I had a really big off-season and was able to put myself in a good position.

“But I just remember (in Cairns) at halftime I was like ‘I don’t know how I’m going to play the second half, this is ridiculous’.”

That wasn’t the only reality check for Worrell early on.

At the end of 2020 he was stopped by police and while holding a probationary driver’s license he was issued with an expiation notice for using his phone while driving and having a low level of alcohol in his blood after staying overnight at a teammate’s house.

That pre-season he returned unfit and a fair way back.

“To learn that I definitely had some tough love, which I needed,” he said.

“I probably had a lot of things in my junior career go my way without doing a whole lot, so I had a bit of tough love and that really taught me how to really kickstart my career essentially and I kind of learnt from there.

“I had some really good mentors in Jake Kelly, Reilly O’Brien and Ben Keays who were massive in putting me under their wings and dragging me along.

“Then I was able to debut that year and even though I thought I was a way off it I was able to get to work after that.”

And then there was Taylor Walker.

“Tex gave me the tough love,” Worrell said.

“A few of the other older boys as well, but I get along with Tex really well so I can’t thank him enough for it.

“I don’t think I’d be where I am today without it … I have both on and off the field had to grow up so that was really good.”

‘I QUESTION SOMETIMES WHETHER I’D STILL BE ON A LIST IF I WAS AT ANOTHER CLUB’

When it comes to Worrell on the field and Worrell off the field he is chalk and cheese.

On the ground Worrell is ultra competitive, a player that simply just hates losing and will almost do anything to prevent this.

Off the field he is one of the real characters in the playing group at West Lakes, with the extrovert always heavily involved in organising the Crows social outings with partner Paige.

“I don’t mind being that, a bit extroverted and that but as long as I feel it (hating losing) reflects in my footy,” he said.

“I feel like you have to back one up with each other.

“I hate losing with a passion.”

Switching between the two is something that comes naturally to Worrell when it comes to games.

Early on at West Lakes however, the issue was doing it outside of games.

“I think it was definitely a hard one early on in training to do it and switch between it. I’ve always felt like I’ve had it in games,” he said.

“But my ability to do in training was different. So I think that’s probably one of the things that has changed since I have grown up that I have to do it not just once a week, I need to do it two, three, four times a week to prepare me to do it at the main time during the week.

“Nicksy (Matthew Nicks) has been great. He has really embraced that side of me.

“At the start I was really raw and I question sometimes whether I’d still be on an AFL list if I was at another club due to how raw I was.

This contributes to why Worrell is loving living in Adelaide with the former Sandringham Dragon and Haileybury student – whose path crossed with now F1 superstar Oscar Piastri growing up – not missing Melbourne at all.

“He follows me on Instagram which is nice,” Worrell said.

“He played footy at Bentleigh Footy Club when I did and then I moved to Haileybury in Year 10 and we kind of crossed over for a bit but not heaps because he was travelling the world and winning Formula 2 championships.

“But it is not a bad little flex the Instagram follow from Oscar Piastri.”

‘I WAS PRETTY ROPEABLE’

They love to prank Worrell at West Lakes, and it normally involves his car.

When the Crows decided to tell Worrell he was debuting they put his car on the oval at West Lakes and when he went to retrieve it he found a note giving him the good news.

Earlier this year players filled up the tray of his ute and then covered the cab of it in training gear just before he was due on the track.

But these two pale in comparison to the one Walker got him with at the end of last year.

Known for his pranks at West Lakes, Walker put a whistle in the exhaust of Worrell’s car.

“That was a disaster,” Worrell said.

“I’m not the biggest car person and I just thought it was my car having an issue and I went to the mechanic because it had been going for a week and a half.

“Paige had been into me saying we aren’t driving back to Melbourne with a whistle coming from the car so we went to the mechanic and the whistling had stopped and the mechanic was like “mate, there’s nothing wrong with your car”.

“Anyway they managed to hide it because Mitch Hinge picked me up and he knew about it so it was just a disaster for me.

“The whole thing I was infuriated by it and then I found out about it at our Christmas break out that I had been pranked and it wasn’t my finest moment.

“I was pretty ropeable, but it was one of Tex’s finest pranks.”

Worrell did get his own back at Walker though.

The night Worrell found out he had been pranked Walker was actually driving because of a hamstring injury.

But when he went to hop in his car all of his tyres had no air.

“So I kind of got him back,” Worrell said.

‘OH THIS IS SHOCKING’

We are right in the midst of Worrell breaking out as a gun defender in the league.

We potentially could have had this happen last year, were it not for a badly broken arm suffered in the Round 9 draw against Brisbane when he was tackled by Cam Rayner.

Worrell snapped both bones in his forearm and spent nearly three months on the sidelines.

“I felt like I was getting some good form and then it was very disappointing to snap my wrist when I was feeling like I was finally getting some consistent AFL footy into me,” he said.

“Both bones were snapped in half and I had two plates and eight screws inserted. It was no good, I was out of it.

“It was like shock and then I was like ‘I can’t believe this has happened’ and then I was swearing my head off at the end.

“I looked down and saw how bad it was and was like ‘oh this is shocking’”.

It is another chapter of a story that shows it doesn’t need to happen for you at AFL level straight away.

“I was speaking to Dawse (Jordan Dawson) about it not too long ago and he was saying I think people sometimes look up to it because it is a different pathway to coming in and playing straight away and playing 50, 60, 70 games before the end of your fourth year,” he said.

“I’ve played just under 40 games in six years, potentially my 50th game this year so that waiting my time in the SANFL, a few hiccups and what not and then come in and play some good footy.

“It is a different sort of pathway that is a bit more relatable sometimes.

“It does make it sweeter now looking back on where I was but yeah I am still not content with where I am.

“I feel like I still have another level that I can go to and hopefully I can play at that level for a long time.”